


Promises

by PurpleWarden



Category: Gravity Falls, Rick and Morty
Genre: in which Bill likes to use people with self-esteem issues for his own deeds, like how dare you Bill, will update tags as chapters go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4912801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleWarden/pseuds/PurpleWarden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morty doesn't have the best self-esteem when it comes to school. Luckily, a certain dream demon decides to take care of that, and all he wants in return is some help for a future project. Sounds good, right? Of course not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing that told him something was off about this place was that Rick wasn’t there. No portal gun, no drunk belching, no constant repeats of his name…nothing. It was just him all alone there.

Whatever this place was, it brought the boy some peace and tranquility. All seemed calm, and there was no need for panic to arise in Morty. The sky was as clear as it could get, the only thing being the bright sun. The boy scrambled with his memories in hope of remembering as to how he got there, when it all clicked. He was no doubt dreaming. With that realization, there was a shift in the dreams atmosphere. He was now lucid. Free to do whatever he wanted that was inhumanly possible.

With this, though, came both excitement and worry. For starters, Morty was excited about the fact he could now do whatever he pleased, and yet he also knew that there was a very high chance of him waking up. Usually once someone became lucid, they could automatically wake up. To his surprise, he found that nothing in the dream seemed to change. By now, the beautiful quality would have diminished into what Morty would have called 240p.

“I wonder what I can do…” he mumbled to himself as many possibilities came to thought. He could probably fly; that had always been something he wanted to try. The excitement of what could come built up as he then turned his attention to the sky above him, his knees bending in prepare for takeoff…

“Hey there, kid!” A voice came out of complete nowhere, its sound surrounding him. Morty stumbled and ended up nearly falling onto the ground from the shock.

“What the-? Who’s there?” Morty scanned the area, hoping to find whoever spoke to him. He found it quite ridiculous how his voice sounded compared to the others. The mysterious voice sounded loud and clear, as though superior to himself. There was a tap on his shoulders, and he turned. His eyes widened, and he nearly screamed.

Floating several feet in the air was, of all things to be seen in a dream, a triangle. Atop its head was a black top hat, cane in hand, and a bowtie underneath the single eye it had on its feature. Its body was a bright yellow, and it seemed to actually glow said color. It was a quite odd character. “Yeesh kid, relax! Don’t have a freak attack now!”

“W-who’re you?” Expecting the new creature to attack him, Morty was surprised to find that all it did was tip its hat in a greeting.

“The name’s Bill Cipher! And your name is Morty Smith!”

“Um, h-hi, Bill.”

The triangle took its attention off him, and onto their surroundings. “Pretty peaceful place, huh? I was thinking at first you’d have wanted someplace with action.”

Morty gave a meek shrug, rubbing his arm shyly. “I-I guess maybe I just wanted-“

“Some peace and quiet finally?”

“Y-yeah. I mean, g-going out with Rick on adventures is ok and all, but-“

Bill waved a hand, signaling him to stop himself. “Say no more! I get it. Give yourself a break sometimes, kid. Don’t wear yourself out.”

Morty frowned. “It’s hard, though.” There were too many things that piled on him.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I-it’s just-“

“Hold that thought! Let’s go somewhere else. No offence, kid, but it’s getting pretty boring out here with nothing but grass to stare at.” Bill then snapped his fingers, much like one who had a plan. “Hey, I know! Let’s go out into space! You like it, don’t you?”

Morty nodded. “Uh huh.”

“Well, let’s go then!”

He was used to seeing space, so it didn’t come off as very exciting anymore. Especially since there was always the risk of getting eaten alive by something lurking in its dark surrounding. But since this was a dream, there surely wasn’t any real danger, right? Of course. It had to be safe, and Bill didn’t seem interested in giving him any harm.

Said triangle had his hand extended out, waiting for Morty to reach out and grasp it with his own. Once the boy had done so, his feet were lifted off the ground.

“Ready?” Before Morty could respond, they were already shooting off into the sky. A shriek came from his mouth, and his grasp on Bill’s hand tightened as he looked down at the area they were leaving. The ground below them shrunk more and more the higher they went, and eventually the sight of it disappeared. Finally looking up to see where they were as they stopped, his eyes widened, and his grip on the dream demons hand slacked.

There was no pitch black, but rather a colorful abyss. Various nebulas with rainbow like color, and stars with increased brightness. Planets that would have taken them only a few seconds to get to, light years nonexistent, littered the far off area.

“Geeze,” was all Morty could say as his eyes drank up all they could of the scenery. It was all so beautiful to look at, that even Jessica seemed a bit questioning to this.

“Like it, huh?”

“ _Like it?_ I…! It’s incredible!” A smile formed on his face.

“It sure is. _Now,_ let’s talk, kid.” There was a sudden flash, and two comfortable chairs popped out of nowhere. Bill sat himself down in one, motioning for Morty to sit in the other. “So, as I was saying earlier, you’re wearing yourself out.”

The frown returned, and Morty sighed as he leaned back into the comfort of the soft chair. “School’s kind of kicking my ass. That, and it’s annoying to have to come home and hear mom and dad bicker all damn day. They’ve always been like that.” He found some relief in letting all this spill out. There was another light flash, and he found a hovering cup of what appeared to be hot chocolate in front of him, settled onto a cup plate. He took the dish into his hand, and brought the warm cup up to his mouth, but took no sip. “At least that’s what Summer’s told me anyway.” Finally taking a sip, he found the drink to be quite delicious. By now, he had forgotten he was actually dreaming. He took a glance at Bill, figuring that he was going to regret having started to listen to the boy talk about his problems. Who would want to listen, anyway?

To his surprise, though, he found that the triangle was focused on only him. His legs crossed and hands together as he listened. “Go on, Morty. I’m listening.”

Morty’s glance lowered down to the cup. “I wouldn’t put it past them if they _have_ been arguing for that long, though. And Rick…” he sighed, now thinking of his grandfather. “It’s like I said, going with him is ok and all, but sometimes I get so frustrated with him. H-he’s so irresponsible sometimes, and he acts immature and-“ His grip on the cup tightened a bit as he felt that all too familiar anger towards Rick. “A-all I feel like is I’m just some damn shield for his stupid mind.”

“Because he says you’re not as smart as he is.”

“Exactly! I-“ He blinked, and looked back up at the triangle. “…How did you know that?”

“I know lots of things, kid. Heck, I even know what you keep hidden under that bed of yours!” He cackled as he saw a blush form on the boy’s face. “But anyway, kid, I want to tell you something. You see, I’m a bit of a traveler. That’s why I’m in your dream right now, you were one of my stops.”

“Stops?”

“I look for certain people, Morty. I look through different dimensions to try and find people that are worth something. Geniuses, you know.”

“Oh. Well, y-you might’ve made a wrong stop then, I’m no genius really.”

“You say that _now,_ but if you let me help you, I can make you smarter than anyone you know!”

Eyes widening, Morty let go of the cup of hot chocolate. It didn’t spill, but the cup just floated away into nothing. “Y-you’ll help _me?”_

“Yeah! You’ve got a lot in your future, and I’ll help you achieve it! Your parents will wonder why they didn’t think you could do it, your sister will have more respect for you, and Rick, oh boy, will he be surprised!”

Bill just seemed so eager to take him on as a student, it was puzzling to Morty. Had this been Rick, he would’ve just been calling him a dumbass, a stupid piece of shit…nothing new. It was quite a bit of what he heard on their adventures. Normally, he would’ve quit, but there was always something about them that made him stay. Probably because they just got him out of the house.

There was also the fact that Bill didn’t seem like the one to call him names. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, someone he could count on. After all, he was offering him intelligence. Intelligence he only gave to people he felt deserved it and were worth his time. Whether it was the hot chocolate from earlier, or just this fact that made Morty feel warm inside.

 _Bill thought he was worth it._ He was actually deemed worth someone’s time. A small smile appeared on his face at this thought.

“So, what do you say, kid? You want to be a genius?” Bill had left his chair and was now in front of Morty, his hand extended once more. In his palm, there was a blue flame. There was no heat protruding from it, so it was clearly not harmful.

His smile still on his face, Morty started to reach out to shake the others hand, but it was suddenly taken away. Morty’s smile vanished at this. “ _Uh uh!_ One last thing.”

“Huh? What?”

“If you let me help you, Morty, you’re going to have to help _me._ As much as I want to, I can’t do this for free.”

“Oh, o-ok!” He could offer his help, seeing as how Bill was going to help him tremendously. “What is it?”

“Ahh, afraid I can’t say for now! But I’ll certainly say in the future. Besides, it’s a surprise, my little genius.” Bill then ruffled his hair gently, emitting a giggle from him. “So, is it a deal? Become a genius, and all you have to do is lend me a hand when I need it? Pretty small price, if I do say so myself!” He extended his hand out again, the blue flame rekindling.

A determined look on his face, Morty reached out and grasped the others hand, shaking it as their deal was sealed.

He then shot up in his bed, wide awake. He shakily inhaled and exhaled, looking around as he saw he was no longer in space, but rather in his bedroom. Sunlight was peeking out from behind his window-shield blinds, signaling it was early morning. The euphoric feeling from earlier faded away slowly, disappointment beginning to replace it. Was it all even real? It felt as though it had. The things Bill knew, space, the chair, the hot chocolate…it couldn’t have been a dream.

He felt his hand tingling, the same one he had used to shake Bill’s own hand to seal the deal. He brought it up, and saw that in the still tad dark room, there was some small writing on his palm. Turning on his bedside lamp for more light, he was able to read the message.

_Just call me a friend. – Bill Cipher_

Reading it over and over, Morty felt the smile from earlier grow back on his face. Excitement bubbled up, and he couldn’t help but let out a small squeak of joy. He was going to be a genius, someone his family could be proud of. No use getting any extra sleep now, he was much too awake. He then decided to get dressed for the day, knowing that when he’d fall back asleep that night, he’d meet the triangle again who promised him so much.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As requested, here is more of the story! I hope you enjoy.

Morty bounced down the stairs on his way to the dining room. The good mood he had claimed was only heightened when the smell of his mothers cooking caught his senses. The grin of his had barely even decreased by the time he had finished getting ready, and only seemed to want to last longer. It were as though it was uncontrollable.

He entered the dining room, a low noise from somewhere catching his attention. It hardly took him a few seconds to realize that the noise was actually him humming just a little. Sitting at the table was the rest of the family. Jerry and Summer were both invested in their technology. Jerry playing the same game he would play daily, tapping the screen rapidly to pop the balloons that floated upwards. Summer was, no doubt, either texting or checking through her Facebook, a bored look on her face. Beth was busy buttering up pieces of toast,  occasionally looking up at Jerry and Summer. She was obviously not impressed by their use of phones at the table. And Rick, of course, clearly gave no cares towards anything.

The dull atmosphere in the room changed nothing of Morty’s positive attitude. His grin remained the same. “Good morning!” he cheerfully said, before heading to the kitchen to make his plate. There was a remaining dish on the counter from where Beth had set out plates for others to claim. He grabbed it then went to fill his plate from what food remained on the stove. Few pieces of toast, some eggs and bacon, and he was good to go. Once he grabbed a fork, he made his way back to the dining area. His humming returned as he sat back down, and stabbed his fork through some eggs.

Jerry’s attention turned from his game to his son, an eyebrow raised in what seemed to be suspicion. “You’re awful cheerful this morning.”

“Yeah, I-I guess I just had a good night’s sleep, you know?” Morty nodded as he shoveled some eggs into his mouth.

“Really?” Jerry blinked. “You mean Rick didn’t drag you anywhere last night?” He jumped as he realized how that sounded.  _“Not_ that I’m surprised…wait, what am I even saying?” he shook his head. “Of course, I’m surprised.”

“Relax, Jerry,” Rick finally spoke after having finished off the last strip of bacon on his plate. “I-I di-didn’t take y-your son anywhere. I-I got too tired of taking his ass anywhere for the day.”

Morty didn’t say anything else for that moment as he continued eating his breakfast. His mind was racing, thinking of the dream from last night. The promise that the triangle Bill Cipher had given him of making him an absolute genius. Just thinking about it was making him only smile more.

“Morty, could you quit your creepy slasher grin? It’s weirding me out,” Summer complained. What a surprise, she had looked up from her phone. Morty only looked up to see she was giving him a look that just screamed how unnerved he was making her.

“Oh. Sorry, Summer.” Morty attempted to keep his smile’s quality down. If anything, this was new behavior from Morty, and it just seemed to make everyone confused. Since when did this kid ever get a good nights sleep?

Well, to be truthful, it didn’t matter much to Rick. He didn’t care, of course. He was too busy focused on his plate.

“Morty, did you write on your hand?” Beth finally spoke. She looked at her son, leaning her head a little to the side as though she were trying to see something better. “It looks like you have some pen ink on you.”

Shit, she could see the writing Bill left on his hand. Morty was quick to close his hand into a small fist, blocking her from seeing it anymore. “J-j-just some-just some notes, mom, th-that’s all.”

“On your hand, though?”

“Yeah, I-I must’ve forgotten to wash it off yesterday.”

“Forget to wash it off as in you didn’t shower in two days, or didn’t wash your hands at  _all_?” Summer questioned, her nose scrunching in disgust at the thought.

Morty found that his sister and her comments were beginning to make him feel bitter, his good mood getting trampled on. His fisted up hand tightened a bit, and his eyebrows furrowed. “I-I’m a busy guy!” he snapped.

“You could still find some time to take a bath! Ugh, I bet you reek.”

“Woah, you guys. You’re gonna be late.” Beth cut the squabbling siblings off as she looked up to see the clock. “You need to get going.”

Summer sighed as she stood from the table to go get her school bag, leaving the dining area. Morty followed after her, still feeling some acridity towards his sister. He searched for his bag when he entered his bedroom, grumbling to himself how much of a bitch she was. Once he located the bag, he slung it over his shoulder. He then paused, before opening the hand he had closed in a fist and looked at his palm. The writing remained as perfect as it was when he woke up, not smudged at all.

Whatever bitterness he felt faded away.

\---

The siblings did little to no effort to speak to each other on their way to school, pretty much ignoring the other. Summer kept a distance from Morty, still bothered by the fact her sibling had not bathed in a while. Morty held no cares, just minding his own business as they finally came across to the school grounds. There were some groups outside the building, several students not in a rush to get to their classes.

Summer was quick to find her group of friends, so she left Morty on his own to enter the building without so much as a bye. The deafening sound of students talking filled his ears, and he just kept his glance focused downwards as he usually did.

Soon he found himself in his first class. He sighed as he went to his assigned seat, plopping down onto the chair. Math was always a horrible subject for him. It had always been confusing, sometimes going as far to frustrate him to the point of tears.

His mind ran away from him as it usually did, and it was only when he heard his name being called for roll call did he realize he had zoned out for a few minutes. It was a bit embarrassing when this happened. It had become a common thing, going as far to a few students making bets every morning to see if he’d pay attention or not as though it were a game for them.

A blush of embarrassment crossed his face. Morty just stared down at his desk as he listened to Mr. Goldenfold continue calling out names for the rest of attendance. His heart fluttered when he heard Jessica’s name called out, and her lovely voice responding. He felt a small smile cross his face as he thought about her. Her lovely face, her voice, her red hair-

“Go ahead and take out last night’s homework, we’ll go over some problems some students had trouble with.”

Shit.

He forgot to do the homework.

The peace Morty found demolished, stomped onto the ground into little pieces as panic settled in. His heart pounded again, and he felt like things were about to go to hell. He couldn’t blame Rick on this one, either. They didn’t go anywhere last night. It was all on himself for forgetting.

His hands shaking and a small quiet whimper coming from him, he opened his book bag and took out the neglected math worksheet. The answer boxes remained blank, the only writing on the paper being Morty’s name. 

“Now, I’m gonna call one of y’all up here, and you’re gonna show me how you did the problem.”

There was a low groan from a few students, in which Goldenfold’s expression turned angry. “Yeah well, you know what?! Deal with it! That’s life! You don’t like it, you can drop out!” he snapped at them. He then returned to his calm demeanor. “Thomas, you’re up first. Get up here.”

Thomas groaned at his unfortunate luck, a few others snickering at him. He stood from his seat, begrudgingly walking over to the front board, homework clutched in his hand.

Goldenfold handed him a piece of chalk. “Write down the equation for number three, and show us how you did it.”

Thomas took the chalk and then began to write onto the board, showing how he had worked the problem. While the other students were focused on watching him, Morty was still in the middle of panicking.

The brunette shakily inhaled, trying to think of what to do. He  _really_ wished Rick could just barge in now and take him away to some dangerous adventure. Usually he was against it during school, but it was times like this that the negativity was tossed aside.

_‘Shit, shit, shit…why didn’t I do it? How could I forget? I’m fucked. I’m so fucked. He’s not going to let me get an extra day again.’_

An idea of writing down what he saw on the board to fill out the problems sprung into his mind, and he quickly grabbed his pencil. He quickly rushed to write down what he saw on the board, but before he was able to even finish, the problem had been erased.  _‘Gotta be quicker next time, then…’_

A few other students were called on, and while they wrote down the problems, Morty copied down what they had written from the board onto his paper. He figured that perhaps he could try to memorize how they had done the problems before and if his name was called. But when he looked to see exactly what he had written down, he would’ve cried if he could. Apparently, writing while keeping your eyes on something else was hard, because all his writing was mush. The numbers were collided together, making it unreadable.

“Morty! Your turn.”

And to make it all worse…

Morty bit his lower lip, feeling like he was going to be sick.

Or cry.

Or maybe both. It was a possibility.

He could feel the stares of everyone in the classroom on him, as though it were burning holes into him. His legs shook, and he felt short of breath when he finally got to the chalkboard. His hands were sweaty, and clung to the blank pages in his hand.

“Alright, Morty. Show us how you did problem eight.”

Morty felt his mouth go dry as he wrote down the equation on the board, his hand shaking a little. Nausea was hitting him from every corner, and if given enough time, he would’ve been sick in front of everyone. As though he needed anymore embarrassment. He could hear some faint giggles from some, they knew he couldn’t do it. He searched the paper for number eight, and his stomach did a flop.

_Write the equation of a line passing through the points (0,-6) and (3,6)._

Once he wrote the problem on the board, he stared at it.  _‘What do I do? What do I do???’_

“Ain’t got all day, Morty!” Goldenfold spoke up. The giggles from earlier were louder.

He was pretty certain he was definitely going to throw up his breakfast when a sudden feel of tranquility struck him. His anxiety lowered quickly, and his mind felt blank, as though there were no worries. Everything felt quiet. Heck, he was pretty sure time must’ve slowed down too.

**_‘Just relax.’_ **

There was that voice. That exact same voice he had heard in his dream. It were like someone comforting a small child who had gotten lost from their parent in a mall. Morty inhaled and exhaled slowly. With that, it felt like time resumed again, and a sudden confidence boost was earned.

“First, you need to find the slope. You get the second Y and minus it from the first Y.” He wrote 6-(-6) down onto the board with no hesitation whatsoever. “And then you minus the second X and the first X.” 3-0 was what he wrote down next underneath what he had previously wrote. He drew a line between them to show it as a fraction.

He spent the next minute explaining all what to do, as though all the information had been stored in his head and was spilling out from his mouth with ease. His own voice had surprised him, he could hardly believe it was himself talking like this. Before he knew it, he found that the whole problem had been solved, the answer being y=4x-6. “And that’s what it equals to,” he finished, setting the chalk back down onto the shelf.

Goldenfold only stared at him, as well as the rest of the class. Their expressions were, to say the least, shocked. Morty was usually terrible at math.

“That…that’s correct, Morty. Go ahead and sit down.”

Morty was quick to return to his seat, but not fast enough to not notice the quick thumbs up given to him by Jessica. He blushed, and quickly sat back down in his chair. As Goldenfold called on another student, Morty decided to use the amount of time he had left to try to finish the homework. It were as though he knew exactly how to work them now.

By the time the homework was to be passed up, he had already done almost all the problems.

By the time the bell rang for first period to end, they had been given another sheet to work on for that night. Same math problems, but they seemed a bit more challenging to Morty. The confidence he held earlier had faded over the class time.

He was stuffing his notebook into his bag when he noticed a pair of feet standing next to his desk. He looked up, and a blush sprung onto his face, and he felt all the more nervous. Jessica only smiled sweetly at him, her books in her arms. “Hey, Morty.”

“Uh, h-hey, J-Jessica.” Ugh, he just had to start stuttering again.

“It was pretty cool to see you could work the problem,” Jessica said. “You usually have trouble with this stuff.”

“Y-yeah. Well, I-I, uh, guess I just kind of figured i-it out.”

“Well, that’s good.” She continued smiling at him. Morty would’ve melted into a puddle by now if it were possible. “Also, Morty, I was wondering. Do you think-“

_“Jessica!”_

The girl was cut off, and turned to see her friends waiting out in the hall. “Jess, come on. We’re gonna be late,” one of them said.

Jessica sighed, before turning her glance back to Morty. “Gonna have to catch you later. Bye, Morty!” With that, she was off. Her friends quickly surrounded her once she entered the hallway, giggling away and adding her into their conversation.

“Yeah…bye.” Morty spoke too late, she was already gone. He felt joyful and he smiled. He quickly zipped his backpack closed, before tossing it over his shoulder and hurrying into the hallway. He had hoped to at least get one last glimpse of her, but she and the other girls had disappeared. He felt disappointed, but the smile remained on his face.

_‘She talked to me…she actually talked to me!’_

**_‘Of course she did. She was impressed. You impressed her.’_ **

The voice was as clear as it had been earlier, and it startled Morty just a bit to hear it again. One would be terrified to be hearing the suspicious voice, but it only brought comfort to Morty.

_‘Thanks. I really did need that.’_

**_‘I’ll only do that just this once, kid. You’re going to have to learn how to do this stuff yourself later.’_ **

Morty felt only more joy, and he began his way to the next class. The hallway wasn’t as crowded as it had been, most of the students having gotten to their classes by now.

_‘And you’ll help me, right?’_

**_‘Of course, Morty. Isn’t that what I promised?’_** answered Bill.


End file.
